Cardinal Nesthttps://crhsnest.org
The Student News Site of Coon Rapids High SchoolWed, 21 Feb 2018 19:19:20 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4Animal Involvementhttps://crhsnest.org/895/opinion/animal-involvement/
https://crhsnest.org/895/opinion/animal-involvement/#respondFri, 16 Feb 2018 21:12:25 +0000http://crhsnest.org/?p=895Getting involved and helping animals has been a passion of mine since I was young. With an intense passion to be a veterinarian, I grew up performing procedures on my stuffed animals, and checking out books about different dog breeds from the library. Growing up I’ve always wanted to help animals in any way I could. My family has always adopted from the Coon Rapids Animal Humane Society, including my dog “Freckles,” (pictured to the below), and my cat “Zeke” (pictured right). The Animal Humane Society is a non-profit organization that helps countless animals.

The Animal Humane Society has been advocating for animals’ health and safety since 1878, with four current Twin Cities adoption centers. Every year they care for more than 23,000 animals in need. They are a non-profit organization that gets most of their money from donations. So how can you get involved in helping these adorable pets? In order to learn more about that exact question, I interviewed Rochelle Benson, the Humane Educator at the Animal Humane Society, via email.

When asked some of the common reasons animals come into the shelter’s care, Benson explained that it can be classified into 3 categories: Surrendering, transfers from other shelters, and strays. Surrendering a pet could mean the family is moving and unable to bring the pet with, someone in the family develops an allergy, or maybe the pet grew sick and the owner couldn’t pay the bills. Adoption rates are fortunately high in Minnesota, so many pets are transferred from southern states like Texas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. “Just think, most dogs in our shelters have traveled for a day or two straight to become Minnesotans. This is there first time ever seeing snow!” When it comes to strays, the humane society waits five days for the owner to come pick it up, and after that they put the pet up for adoption.

One of the more obvious ways to help a pet, according to Benson, is to adopt. When looking to adopt, one of the things one should consider is researching the animal’s breed to learn about its characteristics and needs. Animals are a huge commitment, and one should think ahead. Benson suggested meeting with them one-on-one to see if they would be a good fit for you.

For those who cannot adopt, or those like me that already have adopted, there are still ways you can help animals. You can sign up to volunteer at any of their locations, as long as you’re 16, and donations are always a huge help. Benson also added that, “Another powerful thing is having people just speak up about the importance of adopting.” Just by using your voice, you can help animals find homes.

Getting involved in helping animals can be as simple as letting people know how great adopting is. The Animal Humane Society’s mission is, “to engage the hearts, hands and minds of the community to help animals,” and you can be a part of helping them.

]]>https://crhsnest.org/895/opinion/animal-involvement/feed/0Senior Morning Routineshttps://crhsnest.org/876/entertainment/senior-morning-routines/
https://crhsnest.org/876/entertainment/senior-morning-routines/#commentsThu, 08 Feb 2018 14:01:24 +0000http://crhsnest.org/?p=876Though teachers and administration might not consider it to be one, students know that rolling out of bed and getting to class before the clock strikes 7:40 is an art. Over the years, some students have become masters of this craft in various ways. A few students lead a balanced life and have a regular sleep schedule, some race against the clock every morning, and, every so often, there are some who never went to bed to begin with. Everybody has their own recipe for the perfect morning routine. Underclassmen might have something to learn from CRHS’s resident efficiency experts: the senior class.

I am rather proud of my morning routine and my logical use of time. First, I wake up at 5:00 am sharp, even though I do not need to get up for another hour and a half. Instead of taking this time to sleep, I aimlessly scroll through Twitter, knowing that in approximately 5 hours I will refuse to accept that this is the reason why I’m so tired. After pretending that I haven’t glanced at my clock continuously since I woke up, I decide that 6:45 is a reasonable time to get up and start rushing. Of the next 15 minutes, I allocate 5 to showering, 5 to staring at myself in the mirror, and 5 either to do my eyebrows and give up or attempt to do full makeup and give up. To make up for my insignificant beauty shortcomings, I spend the next 10 minutes throwing everything in my closet onto my floor looking for a show-stopping outfit I know isn’t in there. After coming to terms with this, I throw on my usual jacket over my usual t-shirt and put on either my usual jeans or my usual joggers. At 7:17, I throw whatever individual trail mix components are in my house into a ziplock bag, throw that and my charger into my bag, grab my keys, put on my coat and my usual pair of boots, and head out to my car. At exactly 7:21, I realize I forgot my earbuds inside the pocket of my other usual jacket and run inside to get them. By 7:23, I’m on my way to school, pleased with myself because I know that if I had left 30 seconds later, I would be late.

Successful morning routines start the night before with the setting of the alarm. Ashley Tilke ensures her success by setting not one, not two, but a “million and one” alarms, the first of which is set for 5:30am. The sole purpose of this alarm is to be turned off. Tilke states, “Usually I don’t even remember doing this but I know it happens.” Eventually, a human alarm called her mother will yell down, inquiring if she is up. To disguise the fact that she is not, she yells back “yes” in her most convincing awake voice. Under the threat of her mother’s wrath, Tilke then turns on her heater and some music so her bedroom environment is pleasantly warm and melodic for the 5 minutes she spends in there after she gets out of the shower. Using her time wisely, she makes the tough decision of what to wear while in the shower. Tilke describes this difficult process, saying “It’s basically what sweatshirt and what jeans?” After choosing the most visually agreeable combination, Tilke grabs her backpack and starts her car, but make no mistake, she isn’t ready for school yet. Breakfast is essential to the wellbeing of teenager so Tilke chooses either a wholesome solo cup of cereal or 2 eggo waffles to go with her personal and portable jar of nutella. Because Tilke is also conscientious about her future welfare, she will often grab a box of YooHoo chocolate milk for an after school pick-me-up. In the end, Tilke arrives at school, promptly late at 7:40am.

Even though she sets 999, 998 less alarms than Tilke, Lindsey Marquez manages to make it to school on time most mornings. Like Tilke, her first alarm is set for 5:30 with the sole purpose of being turned off. On her experience with this seemingly widespread phenomenon, Marquez comments, “I like the feeling of knowing I can wake up and go immediately back to sleep.” Of course, one must eventually wake up, which Marquez does at 6:40. Right off the bat, she jumps into the next part of her morning routine: panicking because she is already late. But Marquez has more wiggle room than Tilke or I because she made the wise decision to pick out her outfit the night before. After putting in her teeth and brushing her contacts, it’s time for Marquez to watch Friends on Netflix while getting ready. After an initial distraction by the antics of 6 characters on a 90s sitcom, Marquez realizes she is behind on her skincare and vows to resist allowing her focus to wander and to spend the rest of her time wisely. For Marquez, doing her makeup is a process that requires considerable concentration so she does not allow herself to get distracted more than frequently by her show. Once her masterpiece is complete, Marquez’s panic resumes because she wasted too much time watching Friends. At this point, she runs into her mom’s room and blindly shakes her until she groans, “now?”, then continues her morning exercise by running downstairs and shoving any snack into her bag. Like Tilke, Marquez cares about her future well-being so she never neglects to grab a CapriSun juice pouch. Now Marquez is ready to head to school, arriving there late on occasion but usually just cutting it close.

]]>https://crhsnest.org/763/video/homecoming-week-2017/feed/0Kindness Cardshttps://crhsnest.org/708/opinion/kindness-cards-special-treat/
https://crhsnest.org/708/opinion/kindness-cards-special-treat/#respondFri, 13 Oct 2017 01:44:13 +0000http://crhsnest.org/?p=708Have you been RAK’ed? The News Crew decided to give the new Random Acts of Kindness cards a test drive and see if this “being nice” business was as great as everyone said it was. Turns out…it was (overall) pretty great.

Anonymous Staff #1

My kindness card was to randomly give a special treat to someone. I wanted to challenge myself and give my treat to somebody I didn’t really know. However, I was very nervous about it and didn’t know how to approach somebody, so I asked my friend Patrick to help me out. At that moment, he saw a friend of his walking down the hall and he called him over. There were multiple boys walking in the hall, so I pointed to one and asked Patrick several times if the boy I was pointing out was the right one. Patrick told me “yes.” What I didn’t realize is that while we were both pointing at someone, we were pointing at different people. We didn’t realize this until it was too late. In a squeaky voice, I asked the wrong boy if he would like a granola bar. The boy didn’t respond and kept walking. Patrick then told me that that was not the right boy. Patrick’s actual friend then approached our group and I asked him if he would like a granola bar. Initially, he refused. I turned to Patrick and asked him what I would do now. Feeling my discomfort, the boy took the granola bar from me–out of pity. The goal of my kindness card was for me to be kind to someone else, but it actually led to another person being kind to me.

Anonymous Staff #2

The kindness card that I received said, “If you think a nice thought about someone- say it out loud.” One day, while I was wasting time before a meeting, I was talking to Mr. Severson and I decided that now was the time to play my kindness card. I commented on how I liked his blue jeans and also his socks. He was surprised that I liked his blue jeans and it sparked a conversation on how soft his jeans are. This conversation brought joy to both Mr. Severson and I.

Anonymous Staff #3

My Kindness Card was “Sing a silly song to cheer someone up.” So naturally, the song that came to mind was “Chicago”, sung by Trina Vega in the hit Nickelodeon TV show Victorious. I started to sing this to my friend Maddy, but after the first word I sang she said, “No, stop!” I stopped and she replied, “I hate that song.”

Since my first try didn’t go so well, a few days later I tried again. In the hallway at school I serenaded my friend Audrey, who seemed a bit confused but smiled the whole time anyway. After I was finished with my performance, I asked if it had cheered her up. It did.

Go Cardinal Kindness!

Anonymous Staff #4

My RAK card said to compliment someone on their hair or outfit. I went up to someone who was wearing this super-pretty, cute dress and said, “I like your dress.” At first, it was awkward. But then she replied, “Thanks, I like your outfit too!”

Anonymous Staff #5

My RAK card was to leave a nice comment on someone’s Facebook post. Since I don’t use Facebook, I commented something nice on an Instagram post. Without thinking of any possible consequences, I comment that someone looked very nice on a selfie. But this kind act ended with her boyfriend direct messaging me a very angry and vulgar message about how I need to “back off” of his girl.

Anonymous Staff #6

My RAK card was to say thank you to someone in a special way. I remembered that in French class the week before, Madam Ames mentioned something about her plants always dying because she forgot to water them. I instantly thought of getting her a succulent, since you rarely need to water them. When I walked into French Club the following week I handed her the plant and she smiled and said, “Thank you.” Weirdly, that’s when my heart started beating super fast, AFTER I had already finished my task. You’ve been RAK’ed!!

Anonymous Staff #7

My Cardinal Kindness card read: Talk to someone new at school. I figured it would be pretty easy since I’m fairly out-going and enjoy meeting new people. The next day at lunch, following receiving my card, I scoped out the cafeteria to assess the number of kids I didn’t know. I immediately noticed there was a kid who sat by himself two tables down. I had chosen my mark. The weekend came and went and that next Monday I bought the guy a cookie from the school store. I walked back from the store and couldn’t find the kid at the table. I ate the cookie. The next day I tried again with what you could call “success”. The kid was sitting in the same place as before and I approached him with confidence. I sat down and offered him the cookie. He politely declined and we had a short conversation. I learned that he was in 9th grade, and that his name was Josiah. He was really cool, and at the conclusion of our conversation I once again offered him the cookie. He declined, and I ate another cookie. I met someone new and I got to eat 2 cookies, so I think I was pretty successful.

Anonymous Staff #8

The kindness card that I was given said to “hold the door open for someone who has their hands full”. Berg gave us these kindness cards at our first News Crew meeting which was about 3 weeks ago, so you would think that there would be plenty of time to get this done, right? As it turns out, people just don’t have their hands full while they walk through a door like they used to. I really struggled to find myself in a situation where someone needed my help holding the door for them (or I just wasn’t looking hard enough). But I finally completed the challenge.

On Monday night, heading into a FCA meeting, a woman was walking out the cafeteria door with a box in hand. I immediately thought to myself, “Now’s my chance! I’ll never have another like this before the deadline. I need to strike now.” So I walked briskly to the door so I could catch her before she opened it. There’s a twist though. As I was opening the door for her, I dropped all of the stuff I needed for FCA right in front of the lady, including, but not limited to: a bible, my 10 piece McNugget meal, 8 paper bags we were using for an activity later that night, and the lesson sheet for that night. So, I found myself in this awkward situation where all my stuff was sprawled out on the ground, while I held the door open for this lady who probably felt awkward as well because she probably could’ve easily just opened the door for herself. As she passed she said, “Thank you.” And that was it.

All in all, it was a great learning experience. 10/10 I would recommend holding the door open for anyone, preferably not when your hands are full.

Sometimes it’s not about the execution it’s about the effort.

]]>https://crhsnest.org/708/opinion/kindness-cards-special-treat/feed/0Kindness Initiativehttps://crhsnest.org/694/news/kindness-initiative/
https://crhsnest.org/694/news/kindness-initiative/#respondSun, 08 Oct 2017 18:14:07 +0000http://crhsnest.org/?p=694Throughout the first few weeks of school, it’s obvious that the CRHS administration has implemented a new initiative: Kindness. It was introduced at the first assembly when two superheroes rode into the gym on motorcycles. In their speech, they emphasized the importance of kindness and how every student and staff member should work to create a welcoming environment in our school. This was followed up by the mass distribution of Kindness Cards ,which each have small prompts on them that offer a specific way to be kind.

Last year was a very difficult year for many people, not just students and staff at CRHS, but many around the country as well. This is the number one reason that the administration wanted to launch the Kindness Initiative. Seeing the turmoil that affects the world each day, Curt Wallrath and the administration thought that if people were just nicer to each other we would all, in turn, be happier. The whole goal of the Kindness Initiative is to make people feel like they are a part of the school and the community.

Wallrath and the rest of CRHS’s administration team plan to have different Kindness events and programs running throughout the year. Wallrath indicated that he and the rest of administration “don’t want to let [the Kindness Initiative] die.” It’s difficult to measure whether the Kindness Initiative is working, but Wallrath and others have been speaking with different students about what’s going well and what’s not going well to deduce the “mental temperature” of the school. Two plans that are currently in the works are a Kindness Week and Kindness Boomerangs.

Also, you heard it here first, there could possibly be another superhero joining the two Captain Kindnesses.